Chapter 77
"So?" Azula asked, turning towards Katara as her girlfriend put down the phone handset, having finished the conversation with her brother. "How is everything in Ba Sing Se? Has Sokka finally broken up with Zuzu?"
"Love?" Katara gave her a stern stare. "Don't be a bitch." Azula flinched at the reprimand. Katara usually wasn't this strict, but Azula supposed that she was being an insufferable brat. "I won't stand for you wishing that my brother's relationship failed and he got hurt. That's not on, Azula. I doubt they wish that on us."
"Zuko totally does-" Azula began, but the look in Katara's eyes immediately took away all of Azula's desire to argue. "Alright, fine… I guess he probably doesn't," she admitted reluctantly. "And I suppose I don't want them to actually break up, even if I still stand by my conviction that Zuzu having a functional relationship is just the weirdest thing I've ever witnessed. Also, you know why I've been mad at Zuko lately," Azula finished.
"Oh, come on! Is it still about the Gaoling disaster?" Katara groaned. Azula nodded stiffly. "He wasn't really blaming you for his poor play. You have to know that, right?"
"Of course, he was," Azula huffed. "That's how it's always been with us, Katara. Zuko's toast fell with the butter side down? It's clearly because of Azula. Zuko's car got a flat tire? That's Azula's fault, too."
"You're exaggerating," Katara crossed arms on her chest.
"Ha, I wish I was," Azula snorted. "You were there, you heard him say it. What were Zuko's exact words? If only you had shown a bit more trust in my ability to rebound, I would have probably done better. How else am I supposed to interpret that other than him blaming me?"
"Mhm, I didn't like how he said that," Katara admitted reluctantly. "And I told him as much, too. But like I said, I don't think he truly meant it the way you perceived it. He wasn't actually blaming you. Zuko still measures himself against you, haven't you noticed that? It's like you're still in this competition created by Ozai. He's been playing poorly as of late and it makes him feel like he's losing in your little pissing contest. I think he was simply embarrassed about his poor results and that was just a reaction, him lashing out a bit."
Azula remained silent for a good while, pondering upon everything that Katara had just told her and once again wondering how she had failed to arrive at the same conclusions which seemed so very logical when Katara laid them out like that. Azula had simply been so upset that Zuko would even hint that his recent debacle had somehow been her fault that she was clearly not thinking rationally in this situation. She had warned Zuko to take a few months off from tournament play and just focus on rebuilding his game, but he had ignored her advice, went on to play an important tournament in Gaoling and had predictably got trounced. Now his rating had slipped way down and his chances to make it through to the next stage of the fight for the title of world champion seemed remote at best.
"I have only one thing to say to that, Katara," Azula said earnestly. Katara looked at her curiously. She then let out a yelp as Azula swiftly pulled her girlfriend down onto her lap. "I love you so much," Azula whispered, leaning in to kiss her lover.
"I love you too, and I'm always happy to hear you say it, but what brought it on?" Katara asked, looking amused after they had parted from the kiss.
"For making me see things clearly when I fail to do so myself," Azula confessed. "What you just said made complete sense. I have a tendency to interpret everything from a slightly… selfish point of view, like everything is about me. And it should be, because I'm just that amazing, but in reality, I guess it's not always about me. So, I suppose it's true what you said, Zuko wasn't actually blaming me. He was just pissed off and sought an outlet for his anger."
"He still shouldn't fall into the old pattern of choosing you as an outlet for his anger," Katara said. She looked rather proud of Azula for having figured it out. "I'm going to tell it to Zuko in no uncertain terms once we get back to Ba Sing Se."
"No, Kat," Azula smiled at her. "Now that I know what's going on, please let me fix things with my brother. I think… I think it could help us both."
"Oh," Katara looked surprised, but then she gave Azula the softest look ever. "Love, I'm so happy that you want to do it," she whispered before starting to kiss Azula again.
"Careful," Azula managed after they had been smooching for a while, kisses starting to become heated. "We have guests at the cottage and I thought we wanted to entertain them. Although Agni knows, I want to entertain you and you alone, Kat."
"Well, that's for later, then," Katara grinned at her, wriggling out of Azula's lap and then pulling Azula up to her feet. "You're right, though, we should see to our guests," she nodded as they left their room together.
With six rounds of the tournament now behind them and the competition having passed the midway point, a clear group of favorites had emerged to take the lead. Azula had finally put a stop to Aang's incredible start of the tournament by defeating him in a hard-fought contest in the fourth round. She had been quite impressed with Aang's play. It seemed as if practicing with Teo and Toph had made a very positive effect on the three of them, but especially on Aang. It reminded Azula of how she, Katara and Yue had boosted each other to new heights, and now their younger friends were starting to quickly catch up.
Aang had bounced back in the fifth round, defeating Katara and doing so quite comfortably, much to Azula's dismay. Katara had afterwards confessed of not having been as sharp as she would have liked to be because on the eve of the fifth round, Ty Lee had thrown a bit of a tantrum and gotten into a tiff with Yue, and it had upset everyone at the cottage. Katara wasn't trying to use it as an excuse, admitting that she should have played better regardless of these distractions, but Azula knew that Katara was onto something. If her opponent in the fifth round hadn't been Kei Lo, Azula would have probably struggled herself. Yue had also dodged a bullet, because despite playing very poorly, she had still managed to scrape past On Ji Takeda. Yue hadn't been so lucky in the sixth round and Toph had just steamrolled her with very little resistance, leaving both Azula and Katara quite worried about Yue's state of mind.
As far as Azula herself was concerned, she was now in the tournament lead with six straight wins, feeling very pleased with her performance. The relationship drama between Yue and Ty Lee was bothering her a bit, but Katara appeared far more affected by it, not to mention Yue herself, the white-haired girl really struggling to maintain her focus. In short, Azula felt quite confident about taking home yet another gold medal, although she had yet to play Katara, and Aang still looked menacing despite Azula having won the game between them. With the tournament just past the halfway mark, nothing had been decided just yet, although it looked like the medals would be contested between her, Katara and Aang.
Katara and Azula stepped out on the cottage balcony to look down at the cozy garden below. Aang sat at a table together with Suki, having been pressed into giving an interview. He had certainly been the surprise performer of the tournament thus far, so Azula wasn't surprised that Suki had gone after him for a story. After all, Azula being in the lead and winning titles wasn't anything new. It wasn't as if she was jealous for the public's attention or anything, definitely not.
Ty Lee was making good use of the pool together with Jet Patel. Currently, Ty Lee was sitting on the edge of the pool, having just emerged from the water, puffing out her chest as rivulets of water dripped down her impeccable physique. Jet was doing his best to pretend that he wasn't staring, and it was just his luck that Suki was utterly immersed in her interview with Aang, or else Azula was sure that Jet would have copped himself an earful from his girlfriend.
Toph and Teo were sitting with Yue at a table on the terrace directly below Katara and Azula, and they could see their friends through the gaps in the wooden floor of the balcony. Mai was nowhere to be seen and Azula was still looking around and trying to spot her, when suddenly there were footsteps behind them and Mai appeared next to them on the balcony, nursing a Bloody Mary in her hand.
"Ah, there you are," Mai smirked at them. "I was going to listen in at your bedroom door, because I had been assured that I would be getting an earful."
"Our friends have a terrible tendency to exaggerate," Katara rolled her eyes.
"I bet it was Ty Lee who said that," Azula sighed. She then nodded at the Bloody Mary in Mai's hand, about a third of the drink remaining. "So, Mai… do you think you're sloshed enough to answer some potentially embarrassing private questions?" she asked hopefully.
"That depends," Mai shrugged. "I'm definitely not drunk enough to discuss my sex life."
"And how about after you have finished your Bloody Mary?" Azula tried again.
Mai rolled her eyes. "I don't remember you being this insufferably curious. When you were younger, you didn't actually give a shit about what was going on in my or Ty's life," she replied. "I think Katara is putting you up to this, because she's so concerned about me hurting poor little Aang," Mai pointed accusingly at Katara. "I've come to realize that Water Tribe girls are kind of annoying moral busybodies. You and Yue are like two peas in a pod in that regard."
"Hey, don't talk like that's a bad thing, Mai. I need Katara and Yue to be like moral compasses for me. You know how in the past I've often struggled to tell right from wrong," Azula argued. "Besides, Katara is just that protective of her friends, okay? You'll just have to deal with it."
"I like how you're both talking as if I wasn't here," Katara snorted. She then smiled at Azula. "But at least you're saying nice things about me, so you're forgiven."
"Gross," Mai said. She took another swig of her drink. "Alright, you want the truth?" she asked, emptying the glass all the way. She actually stumbled slightly, reaching out to steady herself against the railing. "The truth is that I like boys younger than me, okay? Especially naïve and impressionable ones I can mold into perfect subs. And believe it or not, Aang fits that description perfectly. He's a natural with the ball gag."
Azula winced, feeling deeply disturbed by that mental image, and Katara looked to be suffering similarly. "Alright, now I wish I hadn't asked," Azula muttered.
"That was just my way of telling you to stop prodding," Mai said, giving a pointed stare to Katara in particular. "Curiosity is nice and everything, until you find out something you wish you didn't know. Let that be a lesson to you."
"Do you have some kind of a problem with me?" Katara challenged the older girl.
"Not really. I mean, you're clearly a good influence on Azula," Mai shrugged. "I just find both you and Yue a bit too sanctimonious at times. I don't know, maybe all girls in the Water Tribes have a stick up their asses. And I guess I can see why Azula's so high on you, but I figured that Ty would at least go for someone more fun," she said, looking down at the poolside where Ty Lee sat with her chest still puffed out, giggling at Jet before diving back into the pool. "I think Ty is just about ready to move on, though."
"If you have been encouraging her-" Katara began, but Mai quickly cut her off.
"I haven't, but Ty Lee hardly needs encouragement," Mai said.
"I think you don't like me and Yue because you were hoping that Ty Lee would get back together with Azula," Katara said suddenly. At first, Azula thought that her girlfriend had simply made an outlandish guess, but Mai being very slow with her reply made Azula deeply suspicious. Maybe Katara was onto something here.
"Ugh, this is why I hate talking about these things," Mai muttered irately. "Maybe that had been playing on my mind, yes, but I would never meddle into the relationships of others." She then looked at Azula. "I know that you getting back with Ty isn't on, but… ugh, maybe I've been unfair to your Water Tribe sweethearts because of that, and-"
"And Ty Lee also told you about Omashu," Katara finished, looking quite upset.
"How the hell did you know?" Mai blinked, looking taken aback.
"Because at this point who doesn't know about that?" Azula groaned. "Seriously, Ty Lee…"
"What are you blaming her for?" Mai shrugged. "You spoke so much about feeling protective towards Ty, but then you went and hurt her because you just had to fool around with her girlfriend."
"But that's not-" Azula tried to protest, but Katara cut her off.
"You're being unfair, Mai," the Water Tribe girl said, sounding defensive. "I think you simply have a very one-sided interpretation of what happened between us."
"Maybe," Mai admitted. "Anyway, I didn't bring this up. I didn't even want to talk about it, but you kept prodding me. Well, I'm done with it now. I'm going to get myself another cocktail," she said, leaving the balcony.
Katara let out a heavy sigh once Mai had left. She leaned in against Azula. "I had a feeling that the Omashu thing would have consequences," she said quietly. "Remember how I was worried that it would prove to be a mistake?"
"I don't like to recall it as a mistake," Azula frowned. "And I don't think that it was a mistake. At least not for the reasons you seem to think so."
"What makes you say that?" Katara asked, giving Azula a curious stare.
"Do you remember the backstage party of Ursa's theatre troupe last month?" Azula asked. Katara nodded quickly. The three of them had utterly enjoyed themselves after watching a highly successful premiere and later partying with all the actors and stage workers. "While you and Yue were mingling, I spent a while observing the curious social dynamics between the various people in attendance. Ursa had already told me that her fellow actors practiced various unconventional relationship forms, including several functional and lasting threesomes."
"Are you saying that you believe that such a relationship can work?" Katara asked, looking a little surprised.
"I do, yes," Azula nodded. "I think the mistake was including someone who at that point was in a relationship with someone else, even though it didn't feel like a mistake at the time, and even if we were given a permission."
"Hindsight is a wonderful thing, isn't it? We couldn't have known that the bond we have forged with Yue over the years would eventually get to Ty Lee in such a bad way," Katara sighed. "Perhaps you're right and I'm wrong to focus on that singular event in Omashu. Ty Lee is probably not so much bothered by the fact that we slept with Yue, but because our bond makes her feel excluded."
"Is there anything we can do?" Azula asked, a little desperately. It was still very important for her to have Ty Lee and her friendship as a part of her life. Even if Ty Lee was now financially secure because of the deal Azula had cut with her father, and because of her Jasmine Dragon job, Azula still often felt as if she hadn't paid off her debt to Ty Lee and the Watanabe family, even if the rational part of her mind kept telling her that she really had nothing to feel guilty about.
"I think we just have to wait and see whether Ty Lee and Yue are able to resolve their differences," Katara replied. "I spoke with Yue and she seemed serious about trying, but Ty Lee…" Katara frowned as she looked at the pool below them. Ty Lee was still swimming around in circles with Jet watching her. "Suki looks to be wrapping things up with Aang," Katara said then. "Perhaps we should head downstairs and make sure that things don't escalate. If Suki catches wind of what Ty Lee is doing there might be some actual violence."
"I think you're right," Azula nodded, grimacing. It was moments like these that made Azula wish that Ty Lee hadn't accompanied them to Kyoshi Island, but thinking that made her feel like a complete and utter heel. All three of them had tried to warn Ty Lee that they would have even less time to entertain her than back in Ba Sing Se, but Ty Lee had simply taken it as a sign that they were planning another tryst and were trying to exclude her for that reason. For some reason, it seemed that they just couldn't escape this relationship drama.
Downstairs, Katara and Azula stopped at the table where Yue sat with Toph and Teo. Yue had pointedly turned her back towards the pool so as to ignore Ty Lee and her attempts to evoke jealousy. Suki and Aang were on their way to join them and Jet had wisely decided to accompany his girlfriend, leaving Ty Lee all by herself. After a few more laps around the pool, Ty Lee got out and toweled herself off before coming over to join the rest of the group.
"I think Aang just came up with a very inspired name for your little Ba Sing Se commune of Pai Sho during our interview," Suki said with a smile on her lips. "I said that with you lot occupying the top six places it felt like some kind of a gang from Ba Sing Se was stealing all the silverware."
"And then I said that it would be more fitting to call it the Gaang of Ba Sing Se," Aang added with a goofy grin, drawing mostly groans, but also a few chuckles from around the table.
"I can already see the title of my next article," Suki said dreamily. "Rise of the Gaang!"
"Can I pay you to change that title?" Azula sighed. She wasn't too keen to be a part of something referred to as the Gaang. Something told Azula that she wasn't going to be given much choice in the matter, however.
"No way, Azula, this is gold," Suki shook her head adamantly. "It's definitely going into print."
"Azula, maybe we should team up, buy all the copies of the next issue of The Harmony Ring and then burn them," Toph suggested, also not looking keen on the Gaang.
"Stop being mean, I like the name," Yue protested, Katara and Teo also expressing their approval, leaving Toph and Azula as the only dissenters. It seemed that it was official. Azula was now a part of something called the Gaang.
Escape to the famous resort of Kyoshi Island lasting for two weeks had seemed like a certain slam dunk as far as having a good time was concerned, or at least that should have been the case in Ty Lee's opinion. In reality, she was having a miserable time of it. Ty Lee normally prided herself in being cheerful and optimistic, always maintaining a positive outlook on life and seeing only the best in other people. To have so much bitterness coursing through her as of late was really messing up her spiritual energies, muddying her aura and tying her chakras into knots.
It was hard to remain hopeful about her relationship with Yue, however. Ty Lee hadn't quite realized just how deeply Yue's bond with Azula and Katara stretched by the time she and Yue were already pretty deep in a committed relationship. It wasn't just all the hours that the three girls spent together at the Pai Sho board back in Ba Sing Se. They kept talking about Pai Sho outside of it, they had their own private in-jokes, little stories that Ty Lee did not understand, an entire vibrant and rich world that she could never be a part of, and it was slowly driving her mad by making her connection with Yue feel shallow and purely physical. But if it had been bad back in Ba Sing Se, then accompanying Yue, Katara and Azula to Kyoshi Island was even more eye opening. After a week and a half, Ty Lee was starting to become convinced that Pai Sho players should ever only date other Pai Sho players.
It was the eve of the decisive final stretch of the tournament and Ty Lee was spending her evening lounging in the hammock on the estate's terrace, listening to Yue, Azula and Katara once again talking strategy for the penultimate round ahead of them. Ty Lee had tried on multiple occasions to become invested in the whole Pai Sho affair, but she had quickly discovered that she just didn't have the head for something so abstract. She loved physical activities, not sitting in front of a Pai Sho board for hours with her limbs becoming rigid. Sometimes she didn't understand how the other girls could endure it.
As far as Ty Lee understood it, Azula, Katara and Aang were having the most success in the tournament. The medals would be decided between the three of them, since Yue, Toph and Teo had fallen a little too far behind. Yue's lack of success had also put an additional strain on their relationship. Yue was trying to be very patient with her, even if Ty Lee knew that she was occasionally being bratty by trying to provoke a reaction from her girlfriend. But even if Yue was not saying anything, Ty Lee could sense that Katara was not happy with her and Azula had actually told Ty Lee straight up that she was to blame for Yue's poor play. That had really hurt, because Azula up to that point had always insisted that she would rather cut off her arm than be mean to Ty Lee, so for Azula to say something like that meant that she thought that Ty Lee was starting to cross some lines.
Still, it was hard not to become bitter and full of desire to lash out. Even now, ahead of the preparations for the next round in which Yue was about to face Katara, Yue kept insisting that she wasn't going to put in her best effort so that Katara could keep her gold medal hopes alive. It made sense because Yue had lost any chances of a medal herself, but that her girlfriend would make such a sacrifice for Katara just further illustrated to Ty Lee the powerful bond the three Pai Sho prodigies shared. And now, as the evening grew late and Yue, Katara and Azula were wrapping up their preparations, their conversation turned to the future, which was another sobering reminder of what Ty Lee had to look forward to if she remained with Yue.
"I understand why you think that making the pro switch early in May or June might be a good idea, Azula," Yue said. "But your studies are a little different from mine and Katara's. You only have to be at the uni once a week, so you could definitely take a few weeks off as long as you can work things out with the Herald. My studies are a lot more intense this year, and so are Katara's, not to put words into her mouth."
"Oh yes, the third year is the craziest according to those in the know," Katara sighed. "Next year I'm starting with the clinical courses, which can be broken down into smaller pieces to take at my own pace. And I really don't want to start with the pro tour before I'm done with my final exams. But Azula, don't let us stop you from doing what you think is right. I'm sure Yue and I wouldn't hold it against you if you were to go to Agna Qel'a in May all on your own."
"Eh, it wouldn't be the same without you," Azula sighed. "Either we do it together or not at all. If you two want to finish the study year, then that's what we'll do. There's a pretty important tournament in the Fire Fountain City late in June that we could try and squeeze into."
"Mhm, going back there sure would be nice," Katara mused dreamily. "But this brings about another question I've been thinking about. If all three of us go and play at the same tournament, wouldn't we just get in each other's way and undermine ourselves? I don't want to trip up either of you, you're my best girls."
"That is a good point, I'm afraid," Yue sighed. "All these major events will have at least two or three top ten players that we might struggle to beat. If we have to compete against them and against each other, one or even two of us could end up finishing outside the top six. And anything outside of top six is usually bad for your rating."
"I know," Azula nodded. "And it's not just the old guard that we need to worry about. Zuko is hungry to bounce back, Haru is a threat and Teo is going pro. That means Toph will also switch pro early."
"Yes, and I heard that if Toph goes pro then Aang will do so as well, because he doesn't want to be the only one left behind in the juniors," Katara nodded. "I'm thinking that we'll have to do some communicating with our friends about how we target tournaments, so that we don't intervene with one another."
"Good luck getting Zuko to cooperate," Azula rolled her eyes.
"Well, you probably wouldn't be able to convince Zuko, so just leave him to Katara and me," Yue said with a confident smirk. "We'll show you how it's done, Zula." Ty Lee cringed at Yue's natural use of Azula's pet name. She didn't always feel comfortable using it, just because Azula had gotten so mad at her for calling her Zula when they had been thirteen.
"Alright, but even so, I want to play the same tournaments as you do," Azula insisted.
"Don't be silly, I know you and Katara want to go together," Yue said with a smile. "I'll just go to another tournament on my own."
"Absolutely not," Katara protested vehemently. "We want to include you, Yue." Ty Lee let out a frustrated huff at those words. Nobody felt quite that motivated to include her, it seemed.
"I agree with Kat, we're not letting you run off on your own," Azula also sounded adamant. "Maybe we can find a compromise?"
"It sounds like you have an idea," Katara said.
"Maybe I do," Azula said. "Since we don't intend to target every tournament and place quality over quantity, we could do something like this. First tournament, I play with Katara and Yue sits out. Then the next tournament, I play with Yue, and Katara sits out. And the next, Yue, you play with Katara and I'll sit it out. And by sitting it out, I don't mean staying at home, unless that's what you want to do. I'd still want to go with you even if I'm not playing, just to help you prepare better."
"That is an amazing idea, Azula!" Katara exclaimed, sounding happy.
"Oh yes, I couldn't agree more," Yue echoed Katara's sentiment. "This way, the three of us can always keep hanging out together!"
Ty Lee winced at Yue's earnest excitement. She couldn't stop becoming increasingly bitter from the obvious affection in the voices of all three girls discussing their future plans. To Ty Lee, they might as well have been discussing their next threesome, the love they had for each other was so painfully obvious. It was almost as obvious as the fact that the world she could never be a part of would only grow in importance more and more in the futures of Azula, Katara and Yue. It seemed as if there just was no place for her in Yue's future. Unable to take any more of the excited chatting of her friends about their future prospects, Ty Lee slipped out of the hammock and went back inside the cottage. If anyone had noticed her withdrawal, they did not react to it in any way, which further underlined just where she was on the scale of importance for Yue and her friends.
Less than a quarter of an hour later, Ty Lee found herself entering the nearby tiki bar, almost across the street from their cottage. Even she had to admit that the interior of the place was gaudy and tasteless, but Ty Lee decided not to pay any attention to that. She wanted to get drunk instead of moralizing about cultural appropriation. A few minutes later, Ty Lee was sitting at the bar and sipping a pina colada out of a coconut shell, surprised when someone familiar slipped into the seat next to her.
"Cheers," Jet grinned at her, raising his own glass. It looked like he was having his rum straight, which felt perfectly fitting. "Drinking alone tonight, are we?"
"Not anymore, hopefully," Ty Lee grinned back at him. Even when she had been fully into Yue, she had been forced to acknowledge that Jet was just ridiculously hot from the very first time she had laid her eyes on him. Ty Lee had always struggled not to flirt with him at the first opportunity. "I could ask you the same thing, though," she added.
"One of the editors reached out to Suki a few hours ago and requested a 1500 word story out of the blue, just because someone else had flubbed their article or something," Jet sighed. "So, she's busy typing frantically right now, with no time to party. Bloody Pai Sho running her ragged."
"Hah, seems like we're in the same boat," Ty Lee chuckled. "I'm really starting to hate that game, you know? It's just so boring! How can they stand to just talk about nothing else but Pai Sho like all the time?"
"It's not that bad with Suki, really, but I guess I'm not hanging out with three Pai Sho prodigies all the time," Jet shrugged. "I'm guessing it can get a bit much?"
"You have no idea!" Ty Lee exclaimed. After hearing Yue, Katara and Azula being all lovey-dovey and making plans for their future which didn't feature a single mention of Ty Lee, she was ready to vent big time. Jet was pretty decent as far as being a supportive shoulder went. Ty Lee had discovered it earlier during the winter holidays. And she had also blurted out to him about the Omashu thing, not fully at first, but enough to get him curious and he had later coaxed the entire story out of her. Of course, Jet's immediate reaction was to say that he found the idea of Azula, Yue and Katara making out insanely hot, which had really annoyed Ty Lee, even if she agreed that objectively it would be insanely hot. But at least Jet had then said that he sympathized fully and that he understood where she was coming from.
"Lay it on me, babe," Jet gave her one of those crooked smiles that made Ty's knees go a little weak.
"I'm just annoyed, okay?" Ty Lee sighed. "It's been two weeks of barely anything other than Pai Sho and I'm sick of it. They always talk about how much fun these tournaments are, but it hasn't been fun at all."
"I guess you'd have to be an actual Pai Sho player to really appreciate it," Jet winked at her. "I haven't really had as much time with Suki as I would have liked, either. They're really overworking her during these tournaments."
"Doesn't that make you just a bit angry?" Ty Lee asked, shifting a little closer to Jet.
"I wouldn't say angry, maybe slightly frustrated," Jet shrugged. He leaned a little bit towards her until their shoulders bumped slightly.
"Oh well, at least there's plenty of pina colada to help those of us not into Pai Sho to deal with our frustrations," Ty Lee giggled, clinking her coconut shell together with Jet's rum tumbler. If Ty Lee wasn't misreading the look in Jet's eyes, she felt reasonably sure that he was at least a little into her. She suddenly decided to just go for it. After all, it had been some time since she had done something seriously stupid and irresponsible. "Of course, there are other ways to work out frustrations," she suggested with a playful wink.
"Oh wow," Jet laughed, shaking his head in what appeared to be disbelief. "Usually, I'm the one who is expected to make the inappropriate advances," he said, looking amused. "Listen, Ty, you're ridiculously hot and I'm sure making out with you would be amazing, but… and I kind of can't believe I'm saying this, but I feel like I'm having a really good thing with Suki. And I don't want to do anything to endanger that."
"I'm confused," Ty Lee confessed, her cheeks burning with heat. "I thought you were flirting with me."
Jet looked apologetic. "I guess I was and that's my bad. Sometimes I just can't help myself," he said. "You were telling me all about how your girlfriend does not appreciate you enough, and I just thought that you needed a bit of a pick-me-up. And you do deserve to be appreciated. There's, uh, a lot to appreciate."
"You're doing it again!" Ty Lee playfully slapped him on the wrist. Jet looked even guiltier at that. "So, I'm taking it's a no then," she sighed.
"A maddeningly reluctant no, but still a no," Jet nodded. "I hate being the one to act all mature and responsible, but… if you're not happy, just break up with your girl. You don't need to do something like this."
"I'm not completely sure if I want to break up with Yue," Ty Lee frowned.
"Can I just say something that might piss you off a bit?" Jet asked.
"How about you don't?" Ty Lee glared at him.
"Sorry," Jet shrugged. "But if you are willing to cheat on your partner, then maybe she's not the only one who doesn't value her girlfriend and their relationship enough. There, I said it. Please don't spill your drink all over me now."
Ty Lee let out a heavy sigh. "Why would I do that?" she muttered forlornly. "You didn't say anything that I hadn't thought of myself."
Next chapter: Several things come to an end, the Kyoshi Island tournament, the junior careers of Azula, Katara and Yue, and also a certain relationship.